XPath with contains and starts-with in Selenium Python - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to find an element whose text contains 'Submit'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//*[contains(text(), '[1]')]")

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A"button"

B"submit"

C"Submit"

D"Click"

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Forgetting quotes around the text inside contains()

Using incorrect case in the text string

The contains() function in XPath checks if the text contains the exact string 'Submit'.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to find an element whose attribute 'id' starts with 'user_'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//*[starts-with(@id, '[1]')]")

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A"id"

B"name_"

C"btn_"

D"user_"

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using the attribute name as the string to match

Omitting the quotes around the prefix string

The starts-with() function checks if the attribute 'id' begins with 'user_'.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the XPath to find a button with class containing 'submit-btn'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//button[contains(@class, '[1]')]")

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A"submit-btn"

Bsubmit-btn

Csubmit_btn

D'submit-btn'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Not quoting the string inside contains()

Using underscores instead of hyphens

The string inside contains() must be quoted properly inside the XPath string.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to find a div whose id starts with 'main' and contains 'content'.

Selenium Python

element = driver.find_element(By.XPATH, "//div[starts-with(@id, '[1]') and contains(@id, '[2]')]")

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A"main"

B"content"

C"container"

D"header"

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Mixing up the order of starts-with and contains

Forgetting quotes around strings

The XPath uses starts-with() for 'main' and contains() for 'content' on the id attribute.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create a dictionary comprehension that maps element text to id for elements whose class starts with 'btn' and contains 'active'.

Selenium Python

result = {element.text: element.get_attribute('[1]') for element in elements if element.get_attribute('[2]').[3]('btn') and 'active' in element.get_attribute('class')}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aid

Bclass

Cstartswith

Dget_attribute

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'class' instead of 'id' for dictionary values

Using contains() method incorrectly in Python

Not calling startswith() as a method

We get the 'id' attribute for the dictionary value, check 'class' attribute for startswith('btn'), and use the startswith() method.

Practice

1. Which XPath function would you use to find an element whose id attribute contains the text "submit" anywhere inside it?

easy

A. starts-with(@id, 'submit')

B. contains(@id, 'submit')

C. ends-with(@id, 'submit')

D. equals(@id, 'submit')

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the contains() function

   The contains() function checks if an attribute or text includes a specific substring anywhere inside it.

2. Step 2: Apply contains() to the id attribute

   Using contains(@id, 'submit') finds elements where the id attribute has 'submit' anywhere in its value.

3. Final Answer:

   contains(@id, 'submit') -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   contains() = substring anywhere [OK]

Hint: Use contains() to match substring anywhere in attribute [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using starts-with() when substring is not at start
• Using ends-with() which is not supported in XPath 1.0
• Using equals() which requires exact match

2. Which of the following is the correct XPath syntax to select elements whose class attribute starts with "btn-"?

easy

A. //element[@class^='btn-']

B. //element[contains(@class, 'btn-')]

C. //element[starts-with(@class, 'btn-')]

D. //element[@class*='btn-']

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the correct function for 'starts with'

   The starts-with() function is used to check if an attribute value begins with a specific substring.

2. Step 2: Check XPath syntax

   The correct syntax is //element[starts-with(@class, 'btn-')]. Options C and D use invalid XPath syntax for this purpose.

3. Final Answer:

   //element[starts-with(@class, 'btn-')] -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   starts-with() = prefix match [OK]

Hint: Use starts-with() for prefix matching in XPath [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using contains() instead of starts-with() for prefix
• Using CSS selector syntax like ^= or *= in XPath
• Missing parentheses in function call

3. What will be the result of this XPath query?

//div[contains(text(), 'Error') and starts-with(@class, 'alert-')]

Assuming the HTML contains:

<div class="alert-danger">Error: Invalid input</div>
<div class="alert-success">Success</div>
<div class="message-error">Error occurred</div>

medium

A. Selects only the div with class 'alert-danger'

B. Selects no elements

C. Selects all div elements containing 'Error'

D. Selects the first and second div elements

Solution

1. Step 1: Analyze contains(text(), 'Error')

   This matches div elements whose visible text includes 'Error'. The first and third divs contain 'Error'.

2. Step 2: Analyze starts-with(@class, 'alert-')

   This matches div elements whose class attribute starts with 'alert-'. The first and second divs match this.

3. Step 3: Combine both conditions with AND

   Only the first div satisfies both: text contains 'Error' and class starts with 'alert-'.

4. Final Answer:

   Selects only the div with class 'alert-danger' -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   AND filters to first div only [OK]

Hint: AND requires both conditions true for selection [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming contains() matches attribute instead of text
• Ignoring the starts-with() condition
• Selecting all divs with 'Error' ignoring class prefix

4. You wrote this XPath to find buttons starting with "save":

//button[contains(@id, 'save-')]

But it also matches buttons with id "disable-save". How to fix it?

medium

A. //button[starts-with(@id, 'save-')]

B. //button[contains(text(), 'save-')]

C. //button[@id='save-']

D. //button[ends-with(@id, 'save-')]

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand why contains() matches unwanted ids

   contains(@id, 'save-') matches any id containing 'save-' anywhere, including 'disable-save'.

2. Step 2: Use starts-with() to match only ids beginning with 'save-'

   starts-with(@id, 'save-') ensures only ids starting exactly with 'save-' are matched.

3. Final Answer:

   //button[starts-with(@id, 'save-')] -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   starts-with() fixes unwanted matches [OK]

Hint: Use starts-with() to avoid partial matches inside strings [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using contains() when prefix match is needed
• Using ends-with() which XPath 1.0 does not support
• Matching text() instead of attribute

5. You want to select all <a> elements where the href attribute starts with "https://" and the link text contains "Learn". Which XPath expression correctly does this?

hard

A. //a[contains(@href, 'https://') and contains(text(), 'Learn')]

B. //a[contains(text(), 'https://') and starts-with(@href, 'Learn')]

C. //a[starts-with(text(), 'Learn') and contains(@href, 'https://')]

D. //a[starts-with(@href, 'https://') and contains(text(), 'Learn')]

Solution

1. Step 1: Match href attribute starting with 'https://'

   Use starts-with(@href, 'https://') to ensure href begins exactly with 'https://'.

2. Step 2: Match link text containing 'Learn'

   Use contains(text(), 'Learn') to find links whose visible text includes 'Learn' anywhere.

3. Step 3: Combine both conditions with AND

   Both conditions must be true, so use and between them.

4. Final Answer:

   //a[starts-with(@href, 'https://') and contains(text(), 'Learn')] -> Option D

5. Quick Check:

   starts-with() + contains() combined correctly [OK]

Hint: Combine starts-with() for attribute and contains() for text [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using contains() for href prefix instead of starts-with()
• Swapping text() and attribute in functions
• Using starts-with() on text when contains() is needed